1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a reader for contactless data cards.
2. Description of Related Art
Cards fitted with a magnetic strip or an electronic chip are currently used in a variety of applications, for example in telephones, to feed stored data to an associated reader and for receiving data from the reader. One such card, which is fitted with an electronic chip and thus referred to as a chipcard, is disclosed in German patent document C1 39 35 364. In this chipcard, the energy supply and the bi-directional exchange of data may take place through contacts or in contactless manner through the use of coils for supplying energy and for serving in the data exchange which are present in the area of the contacts. Another chipcard reader which operates by means of electromagnetic, contactless power and/or signal transmission with a stationary circuit is disclosed in German patent document C1 37 21 822. The antenna coil provided for transmission in this chipcard is mounted concentrically around the active surface of the semiconductor of the integrated circuit on the card.
Data cards for which the exchange of data is implemented by means of contacts are disadvantageous because the contact area, in particular, is subject to abrasion which may interfere with operation of the contacts. As a result, readers have been developed in which the contacts are mounted on a displaceable carriage which is lowered essentially vertically onto the appropriate contacts of the chipcard, thereby preventing relative motion between the contacts of the card and those of the reader. However, such readers are unsuitable when using contactless data cards. Conversely, contactless readers of the type disclosed in the above-cited German patent document C1 37 21 822 cannot be used to read contact-type chipcards.
While the reader disclosed in German patent document C1 39 35 364, cited above, provides for operation of the chipcard in both a contactless manner and through the use of contacts, the coils for supplying energy and for serving in the data exchange being present in an area of contacts, the arrangement of the coils in this reader is disadvantageous because it requires increasing the height of the reader.